Unlocking human potential through martial arts
While waiting for some Chinese takeout earlier this week, I read a brochure for the local branch of Dahn Yoga. In addition to Yoga and Tai Chi, they now teach a martial art called DahnMuDo.
I had never heard of this martial art before, so I looked it up on the web:
“God is my master”
TrailerVision Pictures presents the martial arts classic: Kung Fu Jesus.
For years, vicious gangster bosses ran the underworld, but a new fighter has come to town. He’s taking over the streets, with a new style of kung fu known as Swing Lo.
When Jesus is framed for selling drugs, he must fight to prove his innocence.
Before the days of the strip-mall Kung Fu Dojo, some martial artists earned a living by performing in travelling circus shows. These artists demonstrated seemingly miraculous feats to entertain their audience, and attributed them to esoteric qigong training.
Truthfully, these “vagabond skills” are mostly cheap parlor tricks. In this video clip, Wing Chun instructor Leung Ting demonstrates the (relatively) safe and easy way to break bricks with your bare hands, and slice yourself with sharp blades.
One of the gentlemen in my practice group alerted me to this video clip. Henry Wang, an expert in the Cheng Man-ching style of Taiji, repeatedly bounces a puncher away through his own punch. Not only that, but he is sitting on a table, with his feet off the ground, while he does it!
In this excerpt from the intriguing documentary Mind, Body and Kick-Ass Moves, a Japanese martial arts expert uses the power of his kiai to ring a heavy temple bell.
In this video clip from the documentary Abbot Hai Teng of Shaolin, the 70-year-old Shaolin monk demonstrates his famous “One Finger Chan” posture.
The old Kung Fu master touched his assailant, with no apparent effect. Days later, the assailant died a sudden and mysterious death. He was a victim of the legendary dim mak, the touch of death.
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Dim mak is a popular discussion topic among martial arts enthusiasts. Some instructors claim to have the skill, or believe that it was used to kill Bruce Lee. Others insist that dim mak instructors are frauds and the skill itself is a complete fantasy. Is there any evidence to support the existence of dim mak? Could it possibly work?
This video clip from Ripley’s Believe It or Not showcases the qigong skills of master Zhou Ting-Jue.
In the first portion of the video, Zhou raises the temperature of a damp paper towel (containing a sheet of foil) above 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Steam rises from the towel.
In the new martial arts documentary Fight Science, computerized sensors are used to objectively measure the speed, power and balance of various martial artists.
Among the findings:
These data points illustrate that martial arts practice results in a stronger, faster body. However in my opinion, they capture neither the most significant benefits of practice, nor the most interesting esoteric skills.